Issa London

“BECAUSE of all the attention of <a href="http://www.vogue.co.uk/search/default.aspx?Keywords=middleton">Kate Middleton wearing her dress, this has become one of the biggest shows of the week – and she really knows what her customer wants,” Vogue editor Alexandra Shulman said after Daniella Helayel’s <a href="http://www.vogue.co.uk/search/default.aspx?Keywords=issa">Issa show this afternoon.

The show was entitled ‘Celebration’; Kool & The Gang sang about it all the way through (as did Daniella as she took her bow), and the mood was intoxicating - even if you’re not an Issa girl yourself.

The clothes are unsurprising but pretty, flattering to all ages (Yasmin Le Bon and Andrea Dellal – both of whom had famous family in the front row cheering them on – looked as good as all the bright young things), and – critically - to all figures. It’s hard not to look good in Issa jersey since Helayel has mastered the art of drape and fit to hide anything you want to while making the rest look just the way you want it to.

Enlarged pheasant feather prints and kaleidoscopic, mismatched printed blouses and skirts were definitively Issa and the result, the designer explained “of having started off with lots of different references and then come back to a celebration of all our greatest hits. I reworked some of my favourite prints from past seasons and mixed them in new ways – it’s a celebration of all that we are.”

With <a href="http://www.vogue.co.uk/search/default.aspx?Keywords=blahnik">Manolo Blahnik on shoes – stilettos that perfectly matched the tights and skater-skirted cashmere dresses above them – and <a href="http://www.vogue.co.uk/search/default.aspx?Keywords=stephen%20jones">Stephen Jones on hats (felt berets with stiff matching plumes or wide, fur brimmed attention-seekers), and low-hanging gold necklaces and chain belts from N.oor, the collection was awarded a superior fashion status which put the dresses in their best possible light.

“She came to my office and told me about the feather prints and that’s when we decided not to do feathers and agreed on felt,” Jones told us. “We wanted something to give bulk to the look and be in contrast to her fine fabrics and very slim silhouettes.”

With thanks to Mercedes Benz. <a href="http://www.vogue.co.uk/search/default.aspx/Shows/?designer=Issa">SEE THE ISSA SHOW ARCHIVE